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George Bennings
George Bennings was a meteorologist stationed at American Antarctic research station, U.S. Outpost 31. The character appears in the 1982 film The Thing and was portrayed by actor Peter Maloney. History Through an unknown event sometime in 1972, Bennings met Garry who he would be friends with for ten years to come. During the winter of 1982, a pair of Norwegians chased a shape-shifting extraterrestrial organism (imitating an Alaskan Malamute) from their ruined research station to U.S. Outpost 31. The dog runs to the station's American crew, pawing and licking at Bennings. After his warnings fail to be understood, the armed Norwegian shoots at the dog, grazing the researcher, who drops to the ground clutching his wounded leg. The Norwegian is subsequently shot dead by Garry, who mistakes his actions for hostility, and the dog is adopted by the ignorant crew. After being stitched-up by Dr. Copper and pouring himself a drink, Bennings returns to his living quarters, later complaining to Nauls over the intercom when the cook's music prevents him from sleeping. Several hours later, as evening fell, Copper and helicopter pilot R.J. MacReady return from their investigation of the Norwegian camp with the charred remains of a split-faced creature - which all present, including Bennings, stare at in disgust. As the creature is autopsied, Bennings, Norris and Garry play a game of poker in the rec room. He is startled by the dog brushing past his leg under the table and requests that the station's Dog Handler, Clark, put it into the kennel. During the night, he is alerted to a disturbance in the kennels and rushes to wake the other men; informing Childs that MacReady requested the flamethrower. Returning to the kennels with the men, he witnesses the Kennel-Thing assimilating the outpost's sled dogs. After the creature is incinerated and tests are performed, Dr. Copper decides to lock the remains in a storage room. Bennings and Windows move the Things to the store and the researcher is left alone to collect his gear from the room - whereupon the creature ensnares him with tentacles. The Bennings-Thing is discovered mid-assimilation by Windows and subsequently burned after failing to escape. Trivia *Witnessing the Bennings-Thing, a confused Garry remarks to MacReady that he has been friends with Bennings for ten years. *Unlike the film, the script and the novelization both had a different death scene planned for Bennings which was never shot due to constraints on time and money, which would have seen him dragged under a sheet of ice while working alongside Mac and Childs to keep the remaining dogs (who would have been assimilated by the thing) from reaching the coast. *In the short story on which The Thing is based (Who Goes There?) he is called Benning and his final fate is never shown. *Bennings' original death in the film was with a screwdriver in the neck by an unknown killer (likely Palmer) next to the kennels. A deleted scene shows Bennings wandering around the kennel (presumably after the Kennel-Thing incident) and noticing a mysterious figure messing around with the storage, who he believes to be Clark. Curious, Bennings follows the person, and this presumably leads to the scene depicted in the released stills. The actual death has never been released, despite him seeing the mysterious person being available to view. Interestingly enough, Bennings is wearing a different outfit in the stills. Category:Characters Category:Characters (1982 film) Category:Deceased characters Category:Assimilated characters Category:Victims of Split Face